According to article 7, paragraph (1) of ADN, the Contracting Parties shall retain the right to arrange, for a limited period established in the annexed Regulations, by special bilateral or multilateral agreements, and provided safety is not impaired:

(a) 

that the dangerous goods which under this Agreement are barred from international carriage may, subject to certain conditions, be accepted for international carriage on their inland waterways; or

(b)  

that dangerous goods which under this Agreement are accepted for international carriage only on specified conditions may alternatively be accepted for international carriage on their inland waterways under conditions different from those laid down in the annexed Regulations.

Procedures to be followed for the communication of multilateral agreements concluded in accordance with Section 1.5.1 of ADN

1)

The initiating country contacts the secretariat and informs it of its intention to initiate a multilateral agreement, the draft of which it transmits by fax and by e-mail.

2)

The secretariat registers the title of the draft agreement and assigns it a serial number which it communicates immediately to the initiating country.

3)

The initiating country includes the serial number in the heading of the draft agreement (e.g. "Multilateral agreement M007") and then proposes it to the other Contracting Parties to ADN.

4)

As soon as the initiating country has reached agreement with the parties concerned on the final version of the clauses of the multilateral agreement, it transmits its signed copy to the secretariat in hard copy and electronically and transmits unsigned copies to the other Contracting Parties to ADN.

5)

Each signatory country returns its signed copy to the initiating country and transmits a signed copy to the secretariat.

6)

As soon as the secretariat receives the copy signed by a second signatory, the agreement is entered in a database which may be consulted on e-mail/Internet.

7)

Each Contracting Party which revokes an agreement shall immediately so inform the secretariat.

8)

The final clause of a multilateral agreement should be worded as follows:
"This agreement shall be valid until (...)^a for the carriage on the territories of those ADN Contracting Parties signatory to this agreement. If it is revoked before then by one of the signatories, it shall remain valid until the above mentioned date only for carriage on the territories of those ADN Contracting Parties signatory to this agreement which have not revoked it. (date ...)^b The competent authority for ADN of ... ... (Signature)".

9)

Where a signatory country signs a multilateral agreement with reservations regarding its application, these reservations shall be expressly mentioned in the copy which it transmits to the secretariat.

Notes

a)

Date of expiry of the multilateral agreement which must be indicated by the initiating country in the final version it transmits to the secretariat and to the other Contracting Parties in accordance with paragraph (4) above. This date of expiry must correspond to a maximum period of validity of five years as from the date of signature by the initiating country.

b)

Date of signature for each country concerned.